1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a heat sink assembly, and particularly to a heat sink assembly incorporating at least one fastening device which can conveniently mount a heat sink of the heat sink assembly to a heat generating electronic component.
2. Description of Related Art
As computer technology continues to advance, electronic components such as central processing units (CPUs) of computers are being made to provide faster operational speeds and greater functional capabilities. When a CPU operates at a high speed in a computer enclosure, its temperature increases rapidly. It is desirable to dissipate the generated heat of the CPU quickly, for example, by using a heat sink attached to a surface of the CPU. This allows the CPU and other high-performance electronic components in the enclosure to operate within their normal operating temperature ranges, thereby assuring the quality of data management, storage and transfer for the CPU. Oftentimes, fastening devices are required for mounting the heat sink to the CPU.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,384,940 discloses a plurality of conventional fastening devices for mounting a heat sink to an electronic component. The heat sink has a flat base which defines a plurality of holes for receiving the fastening devices therethrough, and a plurality of fins projecting upwardly from a top face of the flat base. Each fastening device comprises a cylindrical head, a shaft body extending downwardly from the head and a cone-shaped locking end. A spring is disposed around the shaft body. The fastening device is preferably formed with a narrow slot longitudinally extending from the locking end into a lower portion of the shaft body thereby providing resiliency to the locking end in a radial direction thereof. In assembly, each fastening device is inserted into the corresponding hole in the flat base of the heat sink and the locking end engages with a corresponding hole defined in a printed circuit board (PCB) thereby securing the heat sink to the electronic component mounted on the PCB.
The fastening devices and the heat sink are generally required to be pre-assembled together before the heat sink is finally mounted to the electronic component in order to facilitate mounting of the heat sink by end users. However, the spring of the conventional fastening device is not elastically deformed to advantageously maintain the fastening device to stand in a vertical direction relative to the heat sink. The end users are required to manually manipulate the fastening device to align the locking end thereof properly with the corresponding hole of the PCB when the heat sink is finally being mounted to the electronic component by the end users, which increases operating complexity and difficulty for the end users.
Therefore, an improved fastening device for mounting a heat sink to a heat generating electronic component which can overcome the above problem is desired.